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Yesterday in Beijing, Chinas National Bureau of Statistics held a press conference where they reported that the countrys population growth has seen a serious decline since the last census, in 2000. Specifically, overall population growth has slowed from 11.7% in 2000 to 5.8% in 2010. Moreover, the countrys fertility rate has fallen below 1.5 children per couple.

Interestingly the government agency responsible for implementation of Chinas infamous one-child policy has reported much higher fertility rates --- between 1.7 and 1.8. In the words of Mara Hvistendahl writing for Science, Some scholars believe that the agency [Chinas National Population and Family Planning Commission] deliberately inflates the fertility rate to justify continuing the birth targets.

While Chinas overall population growth decreases, even more startling is the gender imbalance that continues to increase due to sex selection abortion, or, what many are calling, gendercide. In 2000, for every 100 girls born in China, there were 116.9 boys born. By 2010, that gap had widened to 118.1 boys born for every one hundred girls born.

With this new data there is some talk of change in the one-child policy and its inhumane pressures on families in China. However earlier this week, Chinas President Hu Jintao stated that China will stick to and improve its current family-planning policy and maintain a low birth rate.

The WSJ reports that under Chinas one-child policy, many...couples who have more than one child face fines of several months salary and can lose their jobs if they work for the state. The program has also led to some forced abortion and sterilizations.